ABSTRACT
In the interwar years, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) clashed fiercely with the Church and religion. Early socialists like Plato Drakoulis sought harmony, but the KKE, inspired by Soviet anti-religion policies, took a hostile stance. Their newspaper, Rizospastis, negatively characterized the Church as hypocritical, corrupt, and capitalist-aligned. The Church countered with its “internal mission” to fight communism, intensifying the KKE's anti-clericalism. Kostas Apekas, a communist theologian, fiercely criticized the Church as a tool of the ruling class. This animosity stemmed from both ideology and strategy: communists saw religion as a tool for ruling class control and an obstacle to class consciousness, while also viewing traditional values upheld by the Church as incompatible with their vision of a new socialist society.
